A Character Portrait
March 31st 2008 13:38
I decided to pry my mate Brendon Mikronis' mind to see what I could find. After almost a year of travels in Thailand, Cambodia and India I thought his philosophical and creative insights into the world worthy of an interview.
Sitting with his knees on a black leather sofa in the basement of his family home smoking a cigarette, Brendon talked about what's been on his mind since returning to his home city Melbourne.
"I’ve been really paying attention to the Western way of thinking, after having spent quite a bit of time in the Eastern Societies and seeing how they’re living. I think by being away from the Western point of view, you can really get a better perspective on looking at the condition that we’re living in at this point. Everyone seems to be in quite a rush all the time. No one seems to have the time for the common little things in life, which make life, in my opinion, worth living."
India was particularly influential for him in seeing a different way of life. Living amongst the people in working class areas he saw a more organic way of life. One of the rituals of life over there was the chai (tea) shops, which proved to be an excellent grounds for casually observing life while on the road. He uses the example of the chai shop owner and his willingness to socialise with his mates and customers to illustrate his point on the differences between that society with the Western. "His social life and his working life, the point where they meet is very blurred, it’s all a part of his life. Here you’ve got your social life and your working life and it’s very separate. Over there it’s more organic but here it’s more based on this ideal of time and efficiency and working to a deadline." These difference his may stem from "the money factor" driving society here in Melbourne.
Brendon, before engaging in travel, had plans for a career in animation. His short animation Monkography was a Popcorn Taxi Flagfall Film Festival Selection (it can be viewed here Really Long Link and he had his photography exhibited at the Circus Gallery. While in Varanasi, India, he was taught the tabla, the Indian drum played with the fingers.
I was interested in what creative projects he was currently working on.
"I'm still trying to put everything together since I got back. I can feel something brewing but I'm cocooning at the moment. At this point my artistic expression is being directed towards my friends and family. Everything we do is an expression of ourselves. Art is life, life is art. "
Finally I wanted to know what his idea of an artist was for the present times. "We’re just filters for life. Life comes in and comes out through us and your ego only gets in the way of that. It’s a selfless thing, you’ve got to see the world without ego. 99% of people are ego-driven. Everybody's living in, like, the Matrix, under this illusion. I think the artist has got to be outside of that"
Brendon is uncertain where his future currently lies but he expects to return to India at some point to soak up more the rich Eastern culture there. Artistic expression will surely play an important role in his future endeavours with the form this takes dependent on the nature of the ideas flowing through him. Above all though Brendon will continue his one-man mission to lead the blind ego-driven masses, one at a time, to a more sustainable life of peace inside the mind and therefore outside. I wish him luck.
Sitting with his knees on a black leather sofa in the basement of his family home smoking a cigarette, Brendon talked about what's been on his mind since returning to his home city Melbourne.
"I’ve been really paying attention to the Western way of thinking, after having spent quite a bit of time in the Eastern Societies and seeing how they’re living. I think by being away from the Western point of view, you can really get a better perspective on looking at the condition that we’re living in at this point. Everyone seems to be in quite a rush all the time. No one seems to have the time for the common little things in life, which make life, in my opinion, worth living."
India was particularly influential for him in seeing a different way of life. Living amongst the people in working class areas he saw a more organic way of life. One of the rituals of life over there was the chai (tea) shops, which proved to be an excellent grounds for casually observing life while on the road. He uses the example of the chai shop owner and his willingness to socialise with his mates and customers to illustrate his point on the differences between that society with the Western. "His social life and his working life, the point where they meet is very blurred, it’s all a part of his life. Here you’ve got your social life and your working life and it’s very separate. Over there it’s more organic but here it’s more based on this ideal of time and efficiency and working to a deadline." These difference his may stem from "the money factor" driving society here in Melbourne.
Brendon, before engaging in travel, had plans for a career in animation. His short animation Monkography was a Popcorn Taxi Flagfall Film Festival Selection (it can be viewed here Really Long Link and he had his photography exhibited at the Circus Gallery. While in Varanasi, India, he was taught the tabla, the Indian drum played with the fingers.
I was interested in what creative projects he was currently working on.
"I'm still trying to put everything together since I got back. I can feel something brewing but I'm cocooning at the moment. At this point my artistic expression is being directed towards my friends and family. Everything we do is an expression of ourselves. Art is life, life is art. "
Finally I wanted to know what his idea of an artist was for the present times. "We’re just filters for life. Life comes in and comes out through us and your ego only gets in the way of that. It’s a selfless thing, you’ve got to see the world without ego. 99% of people are ego-driven. Everybody's living in, like, the Matrix, under this illusion. I think the artist has got to be outside of that"
Brendon is uncertain where his future currently lies but he expects to return to India at some point to soak up more the rich Eastern culture there. Artistic expression will surely play an important role in his future endeavours with the form this takes dependent on the nature of the ideas flowing through him. Above all though Brendon will continue his one-man mission to lead the blind ego-driven masses, one at a time, to a more sustainable life of peace inside the mind and therefore outside. I wish him luck.
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